A Peek Into the Past: The High Works

Detail of 1898 map of Scranton, showing a portion of the High Works. Keiser Avenue (now known as Keyser), was also known as the Back Road. My second great granduncle John Gilbride, lived on Fulton, two doors from Ruane St.¹

By Nancy Gilbride Casey

As a family historian, I often wish I could step back in time and walk amongst my ancestors. I wish to see the places they knew and the neighborhoods they called home. I might like to step inside the shops, give a friendly wave to a neighbor, or kneel in the churches where they worshiped. 

Some of us are lucky enough to know an older relation who might share an eyewitness account of a place. Usually, though, since our ancestors are long gone, we must conjure up images in our minds-eye, piecing together a best guess as to what an ancestral place was like.

Consider my luck then to happen upon a short manuscript which instantly evoked the hometown neighborhood of our Gilbride, McAndrew, Egan and Ryan ancestors. 

"The Place Where I Was Born," by P.J. Mulherin, published in 1947, gives an account of the North Scranton neighborhood of my ancestors, then known as the High Works. This neighborhood was located in Providence, which in 1866 was joined with the Borough of Scranton and Hyde Park to become the city of Scranton (though the area was known by the name Providence for some time to come).²

Author Mulherin describes how the High Works got its name: As the Leggett's Gap Railroad was being built, the roadbed—measuring about 300 yards long and 20-40 feet high—needed fill. This required a trestle to be built, and from the busy spectacle of engines coming and going and many men working far above, "...came the expression High Works—and so it has been ever since."³

Scranton's High Works neighborhood as it appears today.

Mulherin describes a community of about 75 homes, situated either "above or below The Bridge." The Bridge was a culvert and underpass which measured about 10 feet high, 12 feet wide and 60 feet long—today Keyser Avenue. The bridge essentially divided the settlement in half. About 60 homes were "above the Bridge" and 15 "below the Bridge." The families were mostly of Irish heritage and Catholic faith, with scattered residents from England, Wales or Scotland.⁴

Besides the obvious geographic descriptions, part of the charm of "The Place Where I was Born" are the short biographical notes on various residents who left the High Works to make their way in the larger world as teachers, policemen, nurses and doctors, actors, politicians, etc. It is clear that it was a tight-knit community, where everyone knew everyone else and each kept up on the progress of young people, friends, and neighbors.

"The Place Where I was Born" also includes tales of neighborhood lore, such as the Wishing Tree, and anecdotes about daily life, spirituality, childhood escapades, ghostly encounters, and the inevitable changes to the neighborhood over time.

The real gold of the 17-page book is what Mulherin calls "the Family Roster of the High Works," the list of the many families who settled the area. Gilbride and McAndrew—the surnames of my Irish great grandparents—are among them, as are those of families whose members married into mine, were neighbors, co-workers, friends and fellow churchgoers—names such as Carroll, Noone, Brennan, Shevlin, O'Malley, and Walsh.⁵

Finding "The Place Where I Was Born" was an unexpected treat. It was thrilling to read that my ancestors had a part in shaping the High Works community, and to peek into history to see one neighborhood from my family's Pennsylvania past.

Until next time...

A NOTE ON CITY DIRECTORIES

I was familiar with the High Works as the address of ancestors mentioned in early Scranton city directories. These books existed in this area as early as 1861. Neighborhoods were often listed in city directories by their physical attributes or their location in relation to businesses or other landmarks, such as The Notch, Rockwell Hill or Bloom's Patch.

The image below shows an 1876 Scranton City Directory entry for my 2x great grandfather Michael Gilbride, and brother John, both laborers ("lab"), in the local coal mines, and living on the Back Road, High Works, in Providence ("P").⁶

NOTES

¹Atlas of Surveys of the City of Scranton & Borough of Dunmore, P.A. 1898 (Boston & Philadelphia: Graves & Steinbarger, 1898); digital images by Susan White Pieroth, Lackawanna County PAGenWeb (https://www.lackawannapagenweb.com/maps/Scranton1898Atlas/Scranton1898AtlasPlate11-1.jpg : accessed 3 June 2021). Used with permission.

2 Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scranton,_Pennsylvania : accessed 30 May 2021), "Scranton, Pennsylvania," rev. 17:16 (UTC), 17 May 2021

3 Mulherin, P. J. "The Place Where I Was Born." Typescript by P.J. Mulherin, 1947, p. 3. Copy held by Lackawanna Historical Society, Scranton, Pennsylvania. 2021.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Ibid, p. 16.

⁶ W.S. Webb, printer, Webb's Scranton City Directory, 1876-7, (New York : W.S. Webb & Co., 1876), p. 109, Gilbride, John and Gilbride, Michael; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/2687644 : accessed 29 May 2021).